AUSTIN, Texas — On Tuesday, a Travis County court heard opening statements in the trial of former Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody and Assistant County Attorney Jason Nassour.
Both are charged with evidence tampering in connection with the 2019 in-custody death of Javier Ambler.
State’s opening statements
During opening statements, prosecutors focused on the idea that Chody’s main concern in his position as sheriff was fame and notoriety. They claim that’s why he sought out the contract to work with the show "Live PD" back in 2017.
They also say the reason Chody made sure this “destruction provision” of footage was in the contract was to ensure there wasn’t video that would put law enforcement in a bad light.
Another issue they brought up was the fact that none of the "Live PD" crew who were at the scene of Ambler’s death were interviewed by law enforcement. Prosecutors are concerned that these crew members witnessed an in-custody death but did not have to give statements.
Defense’s opening arguments
Chody and Nassour’s defense attorneys argued that they have both been considered the “fall guys” in this whole situation.
“This whole prosecution is to blame everything, everything, reasonable or not, on Sheriff Chody,” Gerry Morris, Chody’s attorney, said.
They say evidence will show that Nassour came up with this provision to be a good idea for the county because they did not want to see the footage get cut up or sold to be made a hit piece on Williamson County.
But the attorneys claim that the provision did not require the actual destruction of the footage or any criminal acts. The defense said instead, the footage doesn’t exist anymore because the assistant district attorney did not issue a legally sufficient subpoena.
The defense also claims the contract was backdated for the purpose of extending insurance coverage.
State’s first witnesses
The state called its first witness: Netflix in-house attorney Nicholas Coleman, formerly an attorney who worked with Big Fish, the production company for Live PD.
Coleman worked with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and Nassour on the contract for the show. Emails between Nassour and Coleman from 2017 show Nassour was expressing concern about unaired footage being used for anti-law enforcement agency groups. In these emails, Coleman pointed him to parts of the agreement that secured the use of footage only for the show.
The state also called in Stan Springerley, the former assistant general counsel for Williamson County. During his time working for the county, Starla Hall, the office administrator for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, reached out to him.
Hall reached out to Springerley to review a contract for the commissioner’s court agenda. This contract was the so-called "destruction provision," and Springerley testified that it was a highly irregular provision.
“It boggled my mind that this was even being proposed,” Springerley said. “It was not done like any other contract, it was fast-tracked … and borderline illegal.”
Sprinigerley testified that he did respond with his concerns to Hall about use of force situations, what would happen if someone died in the footage or what would happen if it became evidence. He testified that he was given a short response saying "thank you" and not addressing his questions.
Hall also briefly took the witness stand at the end of the day to answer questions about her role in this.
Court will resume Wednesday.
Background on the case
Crews with "Live PD" were riding with Williamson County deputies that night when they tried to pull Ambler over for failing to dim his headlights. That turned into a 22-minute chase. Once he stopped, deputies Tased Ambler and he died.
A jury acquitted the deputies who were accused of Ambler’s death back in March.
Prosecutors allege Chody and Nassour conspired to create a contract with "Live PD" to destroy videos from ridealongs after 30 days. They say that the contract was backdated so that it included the video of Ambler’s death, and as a result, that footage was eliminated.
That original provision in the contract reads: "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, producer agrees that all raw (e.g. unaired) footage of the Material (“Raw Footage”) shall be destroyed by Producer no later than (90) days after the Raw Footage is captured, except to the extent Producer required to retain the Raw Footage pursuant to a valid court order."
The Williamson County Commissioner’s Court later amended it to read "(30) days."